Hmmm...
I've been thinking more and more about it lately...and I really miss going to class every day. I mean, I've got my one ballet class on Monday nights, and that's nice...and I have my salsa/cha-cha class on Fridays, and that's really fun. But it's not the same as being committed to going to class and dancing with people six days of the week.
I could practice on my own in the exercise room, and I should *really* start doing that more, but that's just marking time and staying in shape...it's not real dancing. There's no music to dance to. And it's really amazing how much of a difference that makes. I *can't dance* without music...I just feel awkward and stiff and clumsy. Music gives it form and continuity. Music makes it dancing.
And even if I somehow devised a way to have music, it would be with an iPod, which would make it really difficult to do anything substantial with my head and upper body, which means, once again, that I'm just staying in shape and not really dancing. And it would never be like taking a *class*. For one thing, I need a teacher...I try to challenge myself, but a teacher gives that extra push of motivation, that "you are going to do this jump combination or that tricky step and you'll do it until you get it right," and I love that, and I can't quite give it to myself. And the sense of community in a dance class is really important to me...how everybody's feet hit the floor at the same time, or the arms form a pattern in the mirror. How everybody breathes a little harder together after the jump combination, or you catch someone's eye to go with you across the floor. Practicing alone is so stark and solitary...just me and a mirror. It emphasizes everything I hate about the way I dance. There are no other people to keep me going or soften the blow, and no music to lend grace to the steps.
Anyway. I miss dancing.